MLS teams Philadelphia and Montreal play to scoreless draw at EverBank Field

Crowd of 7,549 comes out to watch exhibition match

Philadelphia's Daniel Cruz (left) takes a shoe and a ball to the chest from Montreal's Fernando Monge in an MLS exhibition match Friday night.

Jacksonville’s soccer fans waited more than 30 years for first-tier American club soccer to return.

They got their game. What they didn’t get was a goal.

Montreal Impact goalkeeper Evan Bush was the star of the show as the Impact and Philadelphia Union played to a 0-0 stalemate Friday night before an official crowd of 7,549 at EverBank Field.

Although the Union held the upper hand for most of the way, the abundance of turnovers showed that both teams were still in preseason form.

“Tonight, we saw a lot of good things, but we also saw some things we needed to work on,” Philadelphia coach John Hackworth said. “So we just hope to progress over the next two weeks and be ready for our home opener.”

In the first half, Philadelphia repeatedly broke behind an inexperienced Impact defense that missed its most experienced player, Italian 2006 World Cup champion Alessandro Nesta. Sebastien Le Toux, Jack McInerney and Danny Cruz broke in wave after wave down the right wing, only to fail in the final shot.

“We like to play the ball in, drop it back, and send a runner,” Hackworth said.

McInerney, the Union’s top scorer last season, started the bombardment, but his apparent 7th-minute goal was nullified by an offside call.

The Impact continued to hang by a thread for the rest of the half, exemplified by defender Zarek Valentin’s clearance from the goal box after Michael Farfan and Cruz had combined to carry the ball up the flank.

Meanwhile, the Union, well commanded in midfield by captain Brian Carroll, consistently snuffed out Montreal’s attacks as the half ended scoreless.

And Jacksonville fans also saw the game’s rougher side. The teams’ last meeting, in August, was marred by a mass skirmish, and all was not forgotten. Increasingly chippy play led to yellow cards for Montreal’s Bush and the Union’s Bakary Soumare and McInerney.

The Union’s best chance came in the 68th minute, when right back Sheanon Williams broke upfield and set up Le Toux with a cutback to the edge of the box. Bush denied Le Toux’s effort with a great kick save.

“Typically, you like to get set as a goalkeeper so you can make saves with your hands,” Bush said. “But you have to make saves with your feet, and this was one of those situations.”

Philadelphia’s last opportunity dissolved when Chris Albright, a U.S. World Cup defender in 2006, headed over the goal in stoppage time.

The attendance didn’t approach the regional marks set at May’s U.S. men’s friendly (44,438) or last Saturday’s U.S. women’s match (18,656), but it was a respectable count for a preseason game between two distant clubs with no official records at stake.

By comparison, Philadelphia’s preseason match against Orlando City last Saturday, part of a doubleheader at the Disney Pro Soccer Classic, drew an officially reported crowd of just over 1,000 in Orlando.

Jacksonville’s last clash of top-level North American clubs was on Aug. 21, 1982, when the NASL’s Tea Men lost 2-1 to the Fort Lauderdale Strikers at the Gator Bowl. There’s no such wait for the next game; the Union’s agreement calls for the club to play in Jacksonville in 2014 and 2015. But players, as well as fans, enjoyed the experience.

“It’s a great night, a great stadium,” Bush said. “There was good fan support here tonight.”

A good crowd for a preseason friendly featuring 2 MLS teams that didn't make the playoffs last year and virtually no star power to those unfamiliar to MLS.

1 thing I'm don't like about Jacksonville and soccer is that they are fighting too hard for a MLS franchise and setting goals that are too high. They need to work on creating a soccer culture here and trying to get a USL Pro or NASL franchise and creating a fanbase and culture for the sport. Unless MLS plans on expanding to 30 teams, there's no way Jacksonville will get a MLS franchise